The Kangaroos were jumped early by a tenacious Swans outfit determined to maintain their unbeaten start to 2012, and when the final siren sounded, North had continued its poor record at the SCG, having not won at the venue since 2004.

''It is disappointing. We were really looking forward to this game, to come up and play a very good contested ball side, on a very small ground, in what turned out to be humid, slippery conditions,'' Scott said.

''But to really convincingly win contested ball (168-149), clearances (50-44), inside 50s (60-57), to be ahead on all the key stats … that's becoming a coach's losing line that one. When you lose, you trot out all the statistics you won, but clearly Sydney adapted to the conditions much better than we did early. We got off to a poor start, and once we adapted to the conditions we were more competitive, but the early lead we conceded proved insurmountable.''

Asked about the relentless pressure the Swans put on his players early, Scott said: ''Yeah it's pretty easy to pressure when you over-handle the ball. Really we know Sydney are very good at pressuring, they are, if not the best in the competition, very close to it in terms of pressure around the ball, but if you kick the ball forward they can't pressure you. When you try to over use it and create something that's not there, it allows a very good pressure side to be good at that.''

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The Swans, from the last line of defence through to their forward line were relentless in the pressure they applied. Every North Melbourne player was under fire as soon as he received the ball, and that pressure translated to turnovers, which the Swans were able to take full advantage of.

Having trailed by a point at the 13 minute mark, the home team, led by a tenacious Ben McGlynn, scored 28 of the next 29 points to lead 26 at the first break, 5.5 (35) to 1.3 (9). Their output being their best scoring quarter for the season.

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North kicked three goals in the opening nine minutes of the second quarter to savagely cut into the margin, but the Swans steadied, and led 9.7 (61) to 6.7 (43) at half-time.

By the last the lead was 40 points, 14.9 (93) to 7.11 (53), and even though they have had poor quarters in recent weeks, there was no way they would let this game slip.

''I called for a big effort from the boys at three-quarter time,'' Scott said. ''I thought we were still right in the game. We had our nine scoring shots in the last quarter but we couldn't convert them. We dominated that last quarter but couldn't put enough pressure on them on the scoreboard.''

THE STANDOUTS The Kangaroos won the centre clearances 18-9. But the Swans kicked 2.1 from this source while the Kangaroos scored 1.3.

North Melbourne hit the target with just 57% of its kicks - its lowest percentage in any game this season.

The Swans finished with a kicking efficiency of 73% for the game - their highest in any match this season.

Sydney was more accurate from shots taken in general play, scoring 10.3 from this source, compared with the Kangaroos, who could manage only 4.9.